New Kansas Driver's License Harder To Fake

Dean Reynoldson from the Kansas Department of Revenue shows one of the hidden images visible under ultraviolet light.

Stephen Koranda
/ Kansas Public Radio

When you think of a fake ID, you might at first think of kids trying to buy beer.

But state officials say it's also related to other problems such as human trafficking, or people working in Kansas who aren't legally allowed to work.

Kansas has unveiled a new driver's license aimed at preventing counterfeiters. The update includes new holograms and hidden images that can only be seen under an ultraviolet light.

Dean Reynoldson is director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which investigates ID fraud. Kansas hasn't had problems in recent years with counterfeit licenses, and Reynoldson says they want to keep it that way.

"The counterfeiters gravitate toward weakling states, those states that have lower-level security features on their cards. So this is an effort to stay ahead of them so that they continue to try to counterfeit other states rather than Kansas," says Reynoldson.

The improvements will more than double the state's cost for a license, from about $2 to $5, but officials say the current driver's license fees will cover the cost. This is the first update for the Kansas license since 2004.